Actor-Writer John Crawford Dies at 90

Crawford appeared in more than 90 films and on numerous TV shows -- including 'Cyrano de Bergerac,' 'The Big Heat' and 'The Waltons' -- in a career that spanned more than 40 years.

John Crawford, an actor, writer and composer, died Sept. 21 of a stroke. He was 90.

Crawford appeared in more than 90 films and on numerous TV shows in a career that spanned more than 40 years.

Known to his close friends as "Black Jack Crawford," his film credits include Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), The Big Heat (1953), The Key (1958), Solomon and Sheba (1959), John Paul Jones (1959), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Hell Is a City (1960), The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Enforcer (1976).

On television, he is perhaps best remembered as Sheriff Ep Bridges on The Waltons, appearing in more than 40 episodes of the 1972-81 CBS drama.

His writing credits include 1970's The Ballad of Cable Hogue, which he wrote with Edmund Penney. Crawford was friends with rodeo cowboy and stuntman Yakima Canutt and co-wrote Canutt's book My Rodeo Years.